


Midnight Snack

by To_Shiki



Series: Avenger Kids AU [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avenger Kids AU, Mpreg, Multi, absent Thor, injuried Tony, they really need to stop having kids, worried kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-05 00:17:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/To_Shiki/pseuds/To_Shiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All is not well at the Odinson-Rogers-Stark household...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight Snack

**Author's Note:**

> One day a picture of baby Peter sneaking into his parents' room in the dead of night because of a nightmare popped into my head. This is the result.

It was the sinking sensation of someone creeping around his room, breathing too loudly to be Tony, which caused him to awaken from a fitful rest. He casually rolled onto his right side facing Tony, dislodging the arm his lover had flung over him in his sleep. Tony sleeping next to him barely stirred at the motion. Trying to keep his facial muscles as relaxed as possible, he cracked open one eye.

On Tony’s side of the bed there was a face faintly visible in the room lit by the arc reactor. Disheveled brown hair, suspiciously bright green eyes, and a quivering lower lip peeked out at him from the edge of the bed. Tiny fingers clenched onto the thick comforter barely covering both men.

“D-Dad? You up now?”

The young boy’s voice trembled when he asked his question. _Another nightmare. Damn._ Steve sighed and opened his eyes all the way. “Yes, I’m up now, Peter. What’re you doing up?” A quick glance at the bedside clock on Tony’s side showed it to be only a few minutes past midnight.

Four year old Peter took this as invitation to climb up onto his dads’ bed. He crawled over with exaggerated care that only a child could manage and laid down next to Tony’s side. He put his head on Tony’s chest right alongside the edge of the arc reactor. Little fingers lightly traced around and over the metal sticking out of his daddy’s chest.

“Peter?”

Green eyes flicked up quickly to look at Steve then back down.

“Did you have a nightmare again?”

“uh-huh.”

Steve reached across Tony’s prone form and laid a hand on top of Peter’s head. He flexed his fingers, lightly scratching his youngest son’s scalp. “Wanna tell me about it?”

“nuh-uh.”

The urge to sigh was great. This was the thing he hated about being a parent: stubbornness seemed to be a trait all his kids possessed.

“Well then, how about we go to the kitchen, huh? We can have some milk and cookies to help us go back to sleep.” He was thankful that both he and Tony had gone to bed in sleep pants.

Peter nodded and carefully got up. He gave his slumbering daddy a kiss on the cheek before kneeling on the bed and holding his hands up for his dad. Steve sat up and easily picked the young boy up and held him with one arm against his hip. As quietly as possible he walked out of the bedroom. He made sure to close the door behind him incase anything happened to fall to the floor.

As he was crossing the living room he was startled to see light spilling out from the kitchen. He cradled Peter closer to his side, angling him away from the doorway –just in case –and eased his way through the doorway.

Sitting cross-legged on the counter were his two daughters, sixteen year old Carol and fourteen year old Jessica Drew. Both girls had their bathrobes on over their sleepwear, the ends clutched tightly in white knuckled grips. On the floor sitting as close to each other as possible sat nine year old Clint and six year old Danny in their pajamas. The oldest child, seventeen (and a half) year old Logan leaned against the counter near the stove in nothing more than a pair of boxers and dog tags.

All five children had a glass of milk and a plate full of cookies in front of them. Except for Logan who held a mug of juice in one hand. The other hand he had on Clint’s head, ruffling the blond hairs.

“Hey,” Logan greeted him as he and Peter fully entered the kitchen.

“Hey, yourself.” Steve set Peter down next to Clint and Danny. He nodded in thanks to Carol when she handed him two empty glasses from the cupboard next to her head. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Logan swiping two cookies from Jessica Drew’s plate to give to Peter. He shook his head in amusement as he opened the fridge and pulled out the milk. Quickly pouring both glasses, he screwed the cap back on and replaced the milk. He handed Peter his milk and took a drink from his own glass before looking at his children.

“So…What’re all of you doing up?”

None of them answered. The three youngest looked up at him pitifully while the two girls turned their gaze anywhere else but his. The oldest cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. That got a raised eyebrow from Steve. _What was he nervous about?_

Carol muttered something under her breath which gained her an elbow to the ribs from her sister. All the children looked down, finding that their cookies had suddenly become the most interesting object in the room.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that. What did you say, Carol?”

She looked up at him, eyes expressing her guilt at saying anything to begin with. “Nightmares,” she whispered.

Steve stared at them astonished. _All_ _of them had nightmares?_ Helooked at Logan in surprise. His eldest nodded slightly ashamed in admitting that even he had one. He took a drink of his milk to give himself time to assess the situation. It wasn’t unnatural for one or two of the children to have nightmares occasionally. It came with having not only your parents but also your older brother fighting badguys nearly every day.

“What was it about?” He had a thought of what could have caused all six children to have nightmares recently and didn’t like it one bit. The cause was almost embarrassing.

“What happened at the park a coupla days ago,” Logan answered for all of them.

_Figured as much._ Steve nodded in understanding. He leaned his hip against the counter next to Carol. He made sure to look at each of his children in turn before speaking. “You all know that he’s okay, right?” After each of them acknowledged his statement he asked, “So what was it, exactly, that’s wrong?” It was wrong, he knew, to be so blunt but he needed to know if he was ever going to go back to sleep.

Danny jumped up, knocking over his cup of milk, and clung to Steve’s pant leg. Clint leaned a little harder against Logan’s leg while the girls tried to discretely hold hands. Peter, seeing what was going on, carefully got up and mirrored Danny by holding onto Steve’s other leg.

“There was so much bl-blood, dad,” Carol whispered. Her sister’s hand squeezed hers, attempting to comfort, to give strength.

“Daddy not moving.”

“Loud noises.”

Both boys at his waist answered at the same time.

Clint just turned his face into his big brother’s leg, refusing to answer.

“I think,” Logan hesitated. Everyone in the house knew how much he hated being the one to explain anything for the group. “I think it’s just that he was hurt so bad from something so… _normal._ ” He shrugged one shoulder as he frowned. “We’re all used to you guys getting hurt while in costume. Not when we’re having a family outing at the park.”

Steve sighed. “It probably didn’t help that you were all there to see it first-hand.”

Three days ago the entire Rogers-Stark household actually had nothing to do. No urgent business meetings, no Avengers call, no after school games or recitals, nothing. Being as casual as possible, Steve had mentioned wanting to go out to the park, maybe have a picnic. Tony had tried his hardest to resist the five pairs of puppy eyes and two pairs of veiled hopeful ones directed at him.

He lasted all of three point five seconds.

His reward for agreeing was an earth-shattering kiss with background music of cat calls and gagging noises.

Forty-five minutes later found the family of eight at the nearest park enjoying an early dinner that everyone had a hand in preparing. Except for Tony; who was forbidden from making anything in the kitchen besides coffee. Several people would point at the odd family sitting underneath the tree next to the area reserved for bikers and skateboarders.

Steve vaguely remembers Tony standing to throw away some of the trash. All he can seem to recall clearly was several people screaming then the loud crack of metal hitting metal. Both he and Logan had jumped to their feet, ready to fight, as soon as the screaming started. Too many seconds had passed before he noticed the crowd gathering around where Tony had been standing just moments ago. With a quick order to Carol to watch her siblings both he and his eldest were pushing their way through the horde of people surrounding their fallen family member.

Clearing the last person blocking his way, Steve gasped as he had dropped to his knees next to Tony. A young boy had been practicing tricks with his bike on the ramp when he had slipped off, bike and all, right on top of Tony. The boy barely had any scratches on him thanks to him protective gear. Steve could recall him shaking badly, asking if it was safe to move the bike off of the man he’d crashed into.

Tony had landed on his back, the bike across his chest. The crack had been a combination of his head hitting the cement along with the metal of the bike impacting with the arc reactor. The head wound had bled sluggishly, matting his hair to his scalp. Steve had had just enough time to place two fingers against his lover’s neck before the paramedics had arrived and shoved him out of their way. He had barely gotten out, “He’s my-“ before the male paramedic rattled off what hospital they were taking him to and had swiftly placed him on a gurney and wheeled him away.

The large family had numbly climbed into the van and arrived at the hospital ten minutes after the ambulance. An unknown amount of time had been spent in the waiting room, clinging children demanding to know where their daddy was. A doctor had emerged and was instantly bombarded by the three youngest. She had thankfully taken it all with good grace and informed the family that Tony had a concussion, cracked ribs, and a sprained left wrist from trying to protect himself a second too late.

After allowing the children to see him, the doctor had told Steve that he could take him home the next day. She wanted him to stay overnight to make sure that no unforeseen complications arose. One of her worries was that while it didn’t appear to have anything wrong, she wanted to make sure that the arc reactor wasn’t damaged. When he was released the next morning it was with warnings to take it easy and take all of his medication. Steve had assured her that Tony had seven people looking out for him.

That was three days ago. Tony had spent most of his time either in bed asleep from painkillers or on the sofa with a child or two curled up around him. The cracked ribs made doing anything, including breathing too deeply, painful. The kids helped him around the house while Steve, Logan, and Carol were at work. Mostly the young ones kept him on the sofa entertaining him with kids’ shows or telling him stories.

The first night Tony had been home found Peter and Danny climbing up onto their bed without a word. Both boys had just _looked_ at Steve and he had caved. Throughout the night he could hear the others getting up and walking up to the bedroom door. Each of them had decided to keep an eye on their wounded daddy.

Now it appears that they weren’t doing just because they were worried. While Steve was trying to come up with something to say, something what wouldn’t ring hollow in their ears, to comfort them a noise from the doorway caught everyone’s attention.

There in flimsy sleep pants and an unbuttoned white shirt stood Tony. He had his left arm wrapped around his ribs, the white bandages standing out sharply against his lightly tanned skin. The painkillers must have worn off if the pinched expression on his face was anything to go by.

“Daddy!” Carol jumped off the counter and gently hugged him.

He smiled and put his free arm around her shoulders. “Hey, baby. What’re you all doing in here? Partying without me again, I see.” The joke did nothing to hide the lines of pain around his eyes. He shuffled further into the kitchen, Carol still attached to his middle. He stood next to where Steve was trapped by the two youngest.

“I’ll be right back,” Jessica Drew announced as she slid off the counter. She silently left the kitchen but not without first running her hand along Tony’s arm.

Steve gently bumped shoulders with Tony and placed his arm across his shoulders. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I was.” Tony released Carol so that he could lay his hand on Peter’s head. “But this one,” he let his hand slid down the boy’s cheek and under his chin. He tilted his head back so he could look his youngest son in the eyes. “This one woke me up.” He smiled to make sure that he knew he wasn’t mad at him. “That and I heard the magical words ‘milk’ and ‘cookies’ and couldn’t resist joining. It just took me a while to get out here.”

Peter smiled up at his daddy before letting go of his dad’s leg. He hurried over to the plate that Carol had abandoned and brought it over to Tony. He held it up with the biggest smile he could muster splitting his face.

“Hang on, Pete.”

Everyone looked at where Jessica Drew had materialized beside Tony. She held out two little white pills and a tumbler of water from the bathroom. “Daddy had to take his medicine first.” She glared at him when he grimaced at the sight of what lay in her hands.

Knowing that he’d get no peace until he did take them, he let go of his ribs and accepted the pills then the water. Only once the glass was empty and he showed Peter that he did indeed swallow the pills did he get to eat the cookies offered to him. He grumbled halfheartedly at the world in general as he munched on the cookie.

“You realize this means you have to carry me to bed now, right?”

Steve smiled at him. “I think I can manage.” He turned his attention back to the kids. “The rest of you should go to bed as well. We talk more about this in the morning.”

“But, dad, it is morning,” Clint muttered. He had finally pulled his head away from his brother’s leg and was staring intently at Tony. “You okay, daddy?”

“I’m fine, Clint.” He broke the embrace that Carol had on him and moved over to where Clint was sitting. He carefully lowered himself onto the floor with Logan’s help. He cradled his son’s head in his hands and stared him directly in the eyes when he said, “Remember: I have all of you watching out for me.” Laying back he stared at Steve upside down. “Think we should let them?”

Steve shrugged and replied, “Why not? It’s been a while since last time anyways.” He placed his empty plate and glass into the sink and crouched down near Tony’s head. “Alright, brats. Finish up then climb into bed with us.” Without another word he gently picked his now sleepy lover off the floor. As he left he could hear all the kids scrambling to clean up Danny’s spilled milk and put their dishes where they belonged.

It didn’t matter how old they got, the kids always seemed to enjoy the rare family sleep together.

~*~

Pre-dawn light spilled in through the open windows. On the bed, Tony lay passed out from his painkillers. Danny and Peter lay on either side of him with a sister sleeping right behind them. Clint was face down on Steve’s side of the bed, hugging one of the many pillows littering the bed. Steve was shoved all the way to the edge of the bed, wide awake, and staring at his eldest son standing by the window.

With a sigh Steve sat up. Logan twitched but otherwise didn’t move. It was only after Steve had stood up and crossed the room to stand beside him that he turned his gaze away from the window.

“What’re you doing still up?”

“Not enough room on the bed anymore.”

“There’s plenty of room at the foot of the bed.”

“You calling me a dog, dad?”

“You’re the one that said it. Not me.”

That got a small chuckle out of his son. He unfolded his arms and held out his cell phone. “Pops called. Said he’s on his way back from Asgard.”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Thor called you instead of the house phone?”

A shrug was his answer. “I don’t know. Maybe he thought that calling the home phone would wake daddy up.” He scratched his head with the edge of the cell phone. “Oh, yeah, he also said that he was going to stop by the hospital to see daddy’s file.”

His dad hummed in acknowledgement. The two of them stood there at the window for several minutes in silence. After the tip of the sun became visible Steve spoke.

“You do know that it’s not a sign of weakness to have nightmares, right?” He stared his son in the eyes when saying his mind. “The only part of having them that truly makes you weak is when you can’t overcome them.”

“Yeah, but-“

“Do you know why Thor’s stopping at the hospital?” Steve interrupted his son.

“Yeah, to check daddy’s file.”

The blond hero nodded. “Yes. He’s going there to check to make sure that they did everything possible for Tony. He’s going to make sure that he really was alright since he couldn’t leave Asgard when he found out that Tony was hurt.” He glanced out at the rising sun. “I bet you anything that even the great god of thunder had a nightmare or two since then. I know I have.” He reached out a hand and squeezed his son’s shoulder. “Go lay down on my side. I’ll stay awake until Thor gets home.” A shove got his son moving back towards the rest of his family.

Once he saw that Logan was lying down on his side, holding on to Clint so he didn’t fall off, Steve turned his gaze back to the outside world. Off in the distance he could see a speck of black that he knew was Thor. _He’s flying home. Great. That means he’s either upset or worried. More than likely both._ As the speck got bigger he faced the bed, watching his lover breathe, surrounded by their family.

_It’s truly frightening how easily you could have died from something that didn’t involve super powers or evil doers._ He leaned his head back against the window frame and closed his eyes. _Whoever’s listening, please please let us last long enough to see our grandkids._ The smell of ozone broke him from his prayer.

Thor was home. A hand rested on his shoulder as both blonds stared at the full bed. Their family was complete for now.


End file.
